Chapter 23
PEER PRESSURE
“You nervous, bruh?” The mischievous grin on Tahmir’s face made me crack up.
The two of us became friends by default because our women were attached at the hip.
Once we were face to face, I realized that I knew his ass.
His friend Seven was cousins with Rome, so we had been around each other in a group setting before.
He was a little crazy, but cool, and it was always cool to have a familiar face around because Johnathan was driving me fuckin’ crazy being in New Dawn with Jocelyn.
“Hell yeah,” I laughed as we strolled the aisles of the grocery store, picking up all the random shit Amaya and Mona requested.
I honestly thought they sent us on this wild goose chase just so they could talk shit about us freely.
Mona said some bullshit about making sure Amaya’s edges were laid and they sent us to the store to get cocoa butter, onion powder, and paper towels.
Shit that I knew for a fact that Black woman already had a surplus of in the house.
“You’ve met her people before, they cool?
” I asked. Amaya’s people were having a barbecue and after her parents found out that I’d been laid up at her house for countless weeks, my presence was mandatory.
That was fine with me because I wanted to be wherever she was.
I was already trying to prepare myself for the ache I knew I would feel when I had to head back home in two weeks for training camp, but we would make it work.
“Just their Aunt Nell & Uncle Brian, but yeah, they were funny as hell. Mona pretty much grew up with her aunt and her parents, and they’re cool… but they made it clear that I better not fuck up.”
“Okay, bet,” I said, throwing a bag of grapes in the basket for Amaya—they weren’t on the list, but I noticed that she was running low that morning, so I made sure to grab her some. Tahmir looked at the basket, then pulled out his phone like he forgot something.
“Aye man, I’m about to order these earrings for Mo. You got a plug out here, or do you just have all her stuff shipped from L.A.?” he asked.
“Stuff?” I asked frowning. “What you mean?”
“Like her gifts and shit,” he said casually.
“Nah, we don’t really do that,” I shrugged.
“What you mean?” he asked with a smile that had absolutely no happiness behind it.
“We just… don’t really do that… I mean I buy groceries and shit, and I’ve been sneaking on her phone and paying her bills. Oh, I bought her some grass the other day.”
“What, you mean like weed?” he asked with a raised brow.
“Nah, like… actual grass. When I first met her, she told me not to even buy her flowers.”
“And you listened?” The nigga looked absolutely repulsed.
“Listen, please don’t take offense to this, but is everything okay?
If you need to hold something, I can slide you a few dollars,” he said like he was trying to be as delicate as he could while his eyes involuntarily glanced at my hand that held my phone.
“Nigga,” I scoffed. “I’m good. I promise I got it.”
“Aight, I just wanted to be sure. Well, do you at least take her out?” he asked.
“We uh…” I thought about it and realized that we hadn’t even been on an official date yet.
Yes, we had been spending all our time together, but it was inside her house because she didn’t want anything to get leaked.
“I guess not... Fuck, man. We been chillin’ at home because she isn’t ready for everything to hit the public, but evidently, I need to step it up. ”
“Don’t even trip. I’ma put you on. They don’t call me Trick Daddy Tahmir for nothing,” he chuckled and patted me on the back.
“Who the fuck calls you that?” I asked with my brows raised, because plug or not, there was no way in hell I was about to start calling his ass that.
“Them, nigga! Anyways, I got some homies that will shut shit down for y’all to have a private dining experience, and I’ma get you in touch with my plug so you can get her some shoes, a bag, something nigga.
Trust me, I seen how they livin’ and these women are spoiled as hell, so it’s our job to ruin them even worse.
I want Mona’s chest hurtin’ if she even thinks about leaving me again. ”
“Bet,” I said with a nod.
I sat there for the entire ride back to the house listening to this nigga give me a lesson in Trickin’ 101. Once we made it back, we finally gathered their asses up to leave for the barbecue.
“Listen, if an old lady tries to throw you some ninety year old snatch, just ignore her. Find one of us, and we’ll take care of it,” Amaya said as we pulled into the driveway.
“Shit, I forgot about Geraldine’s old ass! She still on that?” Mona asked with her face all frowned up.
“It’s worse!” she huffed. “Like her nasty ass is in heat or something.”
“May… I’ll smack your auntie behind this one! I’m not playing with her old ass no more,” Mona spat.
“Girl, I’m right there with you.”
“Sweets, you not about to be out here two-piecing no old lady. Relax,” Tahmir teased as he parked the truck.
“Who not?” she asked as he helped her out of the car.
“Aye, you better calm that shit down before I...” his voice trailed off as he leaned down to whisper something in her ear.
Whatever he said made her skin turn five shades redder and a silly smile spread across her face.
Having had a few encounters with the two of them, I knew it was some freak shit.
I took my own opportunity grab a few kisses from Amaya since we were supposed to be on our low-key shit.
“You ready for this?” I asked, pulling her between the two open doors of Tahmir’s truck so I could sneak in a few pecks.
“I’m good… Are you ready for this?” she teased as she pulled me closer for another kiss.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” I shrugged. As incredible as she was, I already knew how they would be coming behind her if I fucked up, so I vowed not to fuck up… again.
“Aww dammit,” she mumbled as she looked past me. “Really, y’all?”
I turned around to see a small gang of people, half of which shared the exact same face as Amaya. Everyone looked at the four of us expectantly.
“This is… awkward,” Tahmir mumbled under his breath, making me chuckle.
“Oh my God! Let’s get this over with,” she said as she and Mona introduced us to her mom Ana, her dad Andre, AJ, her younger brother Amari, niece Kadence, and her aunt and uncle Chanell and Brian.
“Nice to finally meet you, son,” Andre said sternly as he shook my hand. “Usually, I’m more of a Leopards fan, but I guess you can stay.”
“Umm… thank you,” I said stiffly.
“Daddy!” Amaya huffed and it took everything in me not to turn my head. “He’s joking! He hates the Leopards… In fact, he’s been a fan of yours since your college days,” she teased.
“Damn, Baby Doll!” he fussed. “Now why would you go tell this nigga I’m a fan so he don’t think he has to work to get my approval? You still gotta impress me, Mr. Two Time Super Bowl, Heisman, and MVP Winner,” he said with a smirk.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less, Sir,” I assured him.
No wonder Amaya was so funny—the whole family was made of comedians.
We finished up our introductions and joined the rest of the family for…
more introductions. My soul withered a little more each time I was introduced as Tahmir’s friend and not Amaya’s man, but I respected her wishes.
My soul was redeemed just a little bit every time one of her female relatives tried to push up on me and she got so mad that I saw the smoke coming from her ears.
I politely declined their advances because I’d prefer not to wake up with a knife to my neck.
I was happy as hell when the four of us moved to our own little corner of the yard because I could at least speak freely without inquiring eyes and ears.
“You not gon’ eat, man?” Tahmir asked as he smashed his second plate of ribs, macaroni and cheese, and other assorted cookout foods. It all looked good, but I had camp in a few weeks.
“Nah man, I only allow myself one cheat meal a week, and Amaya made me Tuscan Pasta last night, so I’m restricted the rest of the week,” I answered.
“That was spaghetti!” Amaya said, pointing a correcting finger in the air.
“It was?” I mumbled as I thought back on whatever the hell that was that she served me, because ain’t no fuckin’ way that was spaghetti. “Oh…”
“Hold up!” Mona hollered. “She cooked? And you… ate it?” she asked with her mouth wide open.
“MoMo,” Amaya said, shaking her head. “Don’t do this.”
“I mean…” I thought back to the meal. The pasta was a lil’…
crunchy, and the meat was severely overcooked, apparently so overcooked that I couldn’t tell that it was beef, but the sauce was okay, and I was just so happy that my girl cooked for me that I didn’t even notice at the time.
Amaya’s nostrils flared as she scowled at me and Mona smirked.
“It was… good,” I lied through my teeth.
“Lie again! You know we can see you, right? I asked her to boil some water for me and she damn near burned my house down… and this was at her big age, now!”
“Really, Mona? I told you that was an accident!” she whined, and I couldn’t help but bust out laughing at how cute her mean ass could be sometimes. I resisted the urge to pull her in for a kiss, but as soon as I got her ass alone, those lips were mine.
“Chase, you being healthy is a part of how you make your living… Don’t play with your life like that again,” Mona scolded.
“Mo, get out this grown man’s business! As a man, we do certain things to keep our lady happy… just like I don’t change the song on the radio when you start singing, or bring up that time you almost died trying to smoke that cigar,” he said, making her shoot a crazy side eye his way.
“Haaaa!” Amaya stuck her tongue out.
“Keep playing with me, and I’m gonna need another car for my birthday!” She gave him a mean look, then immediately folded when he pulled her into his arms.